Wednesday Roundup/Caps 3, Preds 2Gamenight: Caps @ 'Hawks

Not the gameplan that Bruce Boudreau drew up, to be sure, but the Caps will take those two points and skip town in a hurry. Some quick thoughts on the game:

You know that in-game "entertainment" at Verizon Center where two fans compete for cheers to determine who butchers a 15-second clip of play-by-play work less? I'm not sure Al Koken would win that promotion more than maybe half the time.

Marek Zidlicky tries to hide from his fan club, not realizing that they can see through the netting.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:In light of Vesa Toskala's one goal allowed last night, there's a great "Best of the Worst" compilation over at PPP... Finally, one year ago today we recapped a huge Caps win that featured a four-point game by Tomas Fleischmann (which is as many points as he has in 11 games since February 15).

He did a good job of spreading Fehr's and Flash's minutes to just over eight apiece.

As for the lady in the light blue, I didn't say she was hot. I merely implied that she had a pair of sweater puppies fighting to get loose. But very good recollection on the rule, and it is my fault for not getting a screen grab.

Related (to that first point): if you're gonna give an alleged scorer eight minutes, might not you be better off dressing Quintin Laing as a PK specialist? Maybe Q gets back in the lineup tonight against his former team.

I have to agree, Al Koken was just awful last night. I don't remember him being that bad back in the 80's when he was doing the games with Mike Fornes (where is that guy today?).

And Tootoo's dive totally pissed me off. You could see plainly that he jumped into the boards. That was bad acting and should have been called, compared to that hose job that Ovie got ganked on in the Bruins game.

Semin obviously was invigorated because I added him to the caricature site on Friday, hoping for some magic. (Took him a couple games, though.)

I missed the sweater puppies. Mostly because me and my sons were playing hockey in the basement (with the game on, of course) - it's in the process of being finished, so we can play until we get carpet...yea baby!

First off, Japes, I agree with your points, but all that counts is the Capos went into a sold-out rink and beat a very desperate, good hockey team. I'd much rather be the team that says "We were lucky to get out of there with two points" than the team that says "Damn, we should have won that game." As for Smokin' Al, yeah, he not great but in his defense, he's a sideline analyst/color guy who was forced to handle play-by-play. It's not an easy transition.

Other indicator: D on both teams were whiffing on passes and were falling down for no apparent reason.

We all complain about NHL ice all the time. Fixing the problem -- via new technology, bigger, mandated dehumidifiers, air conditioners and the like -- should be the league's off-season point of emphasis.

We all complain about NHL ice all the time. Fixing the problem -- via new technology, bigger, mandated dehumidifiers, air conditioners and the like -- should be the league's off-season point of emphasis.

If only they would dedicate themselves to it but part of the problem is that the arena's are multi-use facilities. The ACC is the top 3 in North America in terms of use so that wreaks havoc with the ice.

Plus, it's expensive so unless the league mandates it owners don't have that big of an incentive (yes, injuries and quality of play). It cost the Leafs over a milliong dollars to get a new de-humidifier.

If you guys thought Smokin' Koken was bad, you ought to have heard the Preds guys. Terry Crisp is one of them, not sure who the other guy was. Their Canadian accents have incorporated the slightest Tennessee twang to create a truly unholy accent. They also were pretty flagrant homers, but I'll let that slide seeing as how it's Nashville.

Hey, anyone else read ESPN's John Bucigross saying that the Pens have to at least consider trading Malkin before he becomes a RFA?

JP, any thoughts on running an update of those breathless reports about how Toronto, NYR, whoever will snap him up? (Kinda like the Ovechkin watch, except this time we can hope the rumors are correct!)

He's totally jumping the gun. But considering that, right now, he's the most attractive RFA-to-be next year, you know that the rumors are going to start. And they'll only intensify until he's signed or traded.

@TG,The Pens GM has said their top priority is to sign Malkin, but he's admitted that might cost them Jordan Staal. Also, they have to take care of Fleury and Ryan Malone, who's on pace for 30 goals this season.

Oh, I fully believe that they intend to resign Malkin. But Ted and GMGM said the same thing about Ovechkin for about a year, and that didn't stop any of the rumors about him!

And what you're saying about Pittsburgh losing Staal/Malone/etc. was part of Bucigross' point. Can you commit $17 million a year to two people in a salary cap era and still surround them with enough talent to win?

Is anyone wondering if it's worth trying to coax Federov back next year? I don't know where we'd put him, but I think he's been a great asset to the team and could really help on the specialty teams next season if he's willing to give it a go for another year for a modest price...

If we can bring Fedorov back, we should. He'd be worth it for special teams and faceoffs alone. I'm not sure if he plans on retiring, but you'd think that if he'd stay to play for any team, it'd probably be us (given our Russian core, upside, and energy).

I'm not sure where he fits in the lineup with Nylander back, but it's a good problem to have.